|
June 16th, 2006: SolidGyan goes live. |
|
Read more...
|
CAT fever is beginning to rise. Amongst all the apprehensions that first (or even subsequent ) CAT takers go through, the news regarding 30 extra minutes have given rise to many speculations. The manifestations of this extra time are not known as of now. There are several conjectures, but we would wait till the official version is made known.We at SolidGyan will stay on top of the news and bring you the latest. Till then, stay calm and concentrate on your preparations vis-?-vis known paradigm.
To checkout the CAT 2006 notification click HERE
CAT 2006 NEWS
1) All students have to be graduates with at least 50% marks in graduation
(45% for students belonging to SC/ST/PWD categories].
2) CAT 2006 will be a 2.5 hours test.
3) Students can procure CAT Notification and Application Form from Select UTI Bank branches. The D-Dates | | Last date for receipt of completed CAT Applications | 9th September, 2006 | | Dispatch dates for Admit Cards | 16th October, 2006 | Date after which IIM should be contacted
(in case of non receipt of Admit Card) | 3rd November, 2006 | | Common Admission Test | 19th November 2006 | | Call for interview sent by | 2nd January, 2007 | | Interview Schedule | February - March, 2007 |
| | |
Solidgyan feels that the introduction of 50% criterion would have no effect on the chances of qualified candidates to succeed or the relative competitiveness amongst the applicants. It mainly helps the IIMs from an administrative perspective since it reduces their workload of conducting and examining the results from the pool of candidates who have less than 50% marks in Bachelor?s degree. The extension of exam to 2.5 hrs would have a bigger effect from an endurance perspective and less from an intellectual perspective. Lots of successful candidates get into a ?mental zone? while taking the test in which they can exclude themselves from the outside world. The trick would be to extend that focus for additional half hour and to ensure that mental fatigue doesn?t set in the last minutes. However, most of the candidates have sat through 3 hrs test in their school years, especially the Board exams. Key to success here is to learn from that experience and practicing with MockCATs with 2.5 hrs time frame. IIMs haven?t announced the extra set of questions that may be added. Solidgyan feels that the additional questions may involve extra questions from one of the existing categories (Verbal, Quant or Data Interpretation) or there may be an essay question, on the same lines as GMAT. The best advice for applicants is to get familiar with different question formats so there are no surprises in the actual test. Rest assured Solidgyan?s course material, quizzes and MockCATs would help prepare the applicants for any changes that they may face wrt CAT. In the end, it all boils down to improving speed & accuracy through practice, practice and more practice. Net ? CAT 2006 applicants should not feel concerned with the changes in the exam format. In the next 4 months, Solidgyan, as well as other CAT preparatory institutions would help the applicants prepare well for any changes. |
|
SolidGyan Announces Solid Daily Dose |
SolidGyan Announces Solid Daily Dose
Jul12, 2006
In order to help its registered users better prepare for CAT, SolidGyan today announced the launch of its SolidGyan Announces Solid Daily Dose service available to its registered users. As a part of this service, all registered users would get a daily email from Solidgyan containing a
? Data Interpretation, Quantitative or Verbal Question
? Answer to question from day before
? Word of the Day
SolidGyan feels that in order to succeed in the CAT exam, applicants need to continue sharpening their skills all the time, including when they don?t have the books open in front of them. ?Our online quiz fits in well when an applicant has 30 or so min. to spare, but what about 2 min. early in the morning when he/she is logging in to check their mail and the mind is still fresh. Our Question of the Day is targeted towards helping a user succeed in CAT?. 2 min. everyday for next 4 months?, commented Vinish Kathuria, co-founder of SolidGyan.com.
The users may answer the question at their leisure and post the response at SolidGyan?s Forum where they can also see the responses from other users, get tips & advice etc. Vinish continues, ?Since getting the right answer is only half the puzzle for cracking CAT (speed being the other), its important to get tips re short cuts and pit falls. We are looking forward to users leveraging the Forum as a means of sharing their insights & concerns with each other?.
In order to sharpen the vocabulary skills on a gradual basis, Word of the Day would also be sent along the question, which would have meaning(s) of the word and couple of exams to show its usage in sentences
Registered users can see the archives of questions and answers at SolidGyan?s forum. New users may register for this and other SolidGyan?s CAT related offerings at solidgyan.com |
|
SolidGyan Cover story in the July 2006 issue of Business and Management Chronicle |
|
Solid Gyan Your eTicket to the top B-schools
SolidGyan - can a name like this come from steaming cups of a liquid (read coffee)? In the case of SOLIDGYAN, the country's first exclusive portal for providing online CAT training to MBA hopefuls, it did! Hot cups of coffee AND some cool ideas are a potent combo, and it appears that the eclectic  mix of people at SolidGyan were never short of either. Here then is the story of how SolidGyan was conceived and delivered unto this world and how it will revolutionize the way CAT training has traditionally been imparted. In this informative article on the gestation, birth and nascent life of a youth-icon-in-the-making, we will bring you a ringside view of how great brands are made. "Great brand?" we can almost hear most of you react! "I had never heard of this name before I picked up this magazine!"
Well, here is our counter to that - Had you heard of Google 8 years back? Or Microsoft 30 years ago? Why, did you even know there existed a company by the name Nokia till a decade or so ago, and that before starting to  become a household name, the company had been in existence for nearly a century and used to make paper and paper products up in Scandinavia? What about Starbucks, Nike, Infosys, Amul, MTV and so many of the given names of today's brand icons? There was a time in the lifespan of each of these great brands when people at large had not heard of them! We believe that SolidGyan is at that stage in its lifespan. Having spent a few weeks meeting and interacting with the dynamic team members at SolidGyan, we came away convinced that we were witnessing the birth of a star of the future. A rare privilege, we told each other, that we might encash by writing a book about SolidGyan once it had made its mark on the national (or even global) psyche. As young yet seasoned journalists, we do have to keep our eyes peeled and ears to the ground for the next big thing. SolidGyan had us convinced about its potential to transform the way today's youth learns to get ahead in their lives. We felt it was our bounden duty to share with our readers the flavour of the excitement and passion brewing at SolidGyan. Not to mention the coffee!
To know a brand is to know the story behind its name. We picked up the early threads on the naming of this portal over a cup of steaming coffee with Sunil Chavan, co-founder and marketing genius behind SolidGyan. Sunil is in his forties, with an inexhaustible supply of stories from his international work experience of over two decades, but his boyish looks and contemporary ideas give you the feeling that he is half that age. We asked Sunil how and why he and his co-founders chose the name SolidGyan. The short interview below captures some of this early excitement at the arrival of a newborn.
B&M: Tell us why you chose the name SolidGyan. Were there other names that were considered before settling down with this Hinglish word, if we may call it that?
SC: Of course, you may call it that! After all, the name is made up of two words, each coming from a language that has a distinct character and history of its own. Hinglish used to be a term that was used disparagingly in the past, but today it reflects the reality of a powerful generation - a generation that speaks its mind, that believes in performance rather than promise and that lives life at its own terms. So, no apologies, for choosing a word that had two exceptionally qualified parents! But let me be honest - it was not as if this name was the first that came to our mind. During our search for a good name we went through reams and reams of paper, thinking up and writing names of all kinds, starting from the inspired "WebShala" to the more pragmatic "MBA Prep School". Some of them seemed very clich?d, others too nerdy. Some seemed to resonate with the wisdom of age, others appeared too juvenile. But "SolidGyan" touched thechord immediately. It was one of those "YES!" moments, "This-is-it" moments. After the initial euphoria was over and Sprite bottles uncorked (couldn't afford Champagne :), the business imperatives took over and we immediately grabbed the related domain names, registered the company, got the trademark - the works.
B&M: But what was so special about this name that made you and your team go "Wow!"?
SC: Just say the word with me - right here, right now. SOLIDGYAN. Does the name itself not have an intrigue about it? A feeling of a beenthere, done-that person who is still hungry for more? More knowledge, more learning, more fun, more everything! To us, the word epitomized today's India. We are today acknowledged (pun intended) as the Knowledge Hub of the world. We have the youngest population. Our GDP is growing faster than most other countries. We are putting out more graduates into the job market than others. Our representatives are winning Miss World and Miss Universe beauty pageants while also winning world chess titles! SOLID achievements on all fronts, not the figment of some hippie imaginations. We are probably a role model for developing countries already, and might soon be that for more developed nations. Our GYAN, something we kept to ourselves in the past, has percolated around the world. Why, even right now, the management team at SolidGyan is geographically dispersed over two continents, three countries and three time zones!
B&M: OK, we are convinced about the reasons for choosing this name. Any other characteristics of SolidGyan that you would like to share with our readers?
SC: I could go on an on! You might have to convert this into a double issue :. But seriously, even after we were convinced that the name's etymology gelled with the spirit with which we formed the company, we continued to look for other qualities. We bounced the name across continents, over secret emails and chats, and polled close friends in advertising and branding. We got an almost universal Thumbs Up. We were told that the name was young and fresh, yet not bold and rash. It was fun and frolic yet not flippant and frivolous (Hey, that exhausts my quota of F-words in a sentence! No, just kidding :). It has a touch of seriousness and gravitas to it yet it is not dull or humourless. To put it in a nutshell, it has a certain chutzpah to it. And we believe the youth of Today's India (I hope I am not violating any copyrights of India Today group here!) is JLT - Just Like That!
B&M: So it looks like you had no birth pangs at SolidGyan. Everything seemed to have fallen in place quickly.
SC (with a wry smile): Ha, I wish! When all is said and done (often it is more said than done, of course), it sounds too smooth and trivial. But as I go down memory lane, SolidGyan's lineage is far more eventful. This child that we are all so proud of, are working so hard to rear, is the culmination of several hours, days, weeks and months of heated debates, endless discussions, abandoned thoughts, junked ideas and fresh brainwaves. Supported, of course, by a steady supply of filter coffee and steaming idlis, and a relentless zeal of "Kuch Karna Hein, Kuch Kar Dikhana Hein"'. No Sirjee, this was not as easy as it sounds now. It was not instant coffee, made in a jiffy. It was slowly brewed and deliberately filtered over time, and I think our users will be able to taste the difference!
That tete-a-tete over, we decided to take a break, as Sunil had to get on to an international call with some members of his Think Tank. OK, the name had us sold, but should we not dig a little deeper to find what lies beneath? We were unanimous that we owed it to our readers. As we left Sunil's colourfully done cabin, we espied Sheela Iyer, another veteran at SolidGyan. We decided to talk to her and see what the ground realities we could unearth.
 B&M: Hi Sheela, can you tell us about the early days at SolidGyan?
SI: Sure! I have been witness to some of the most exciting times here. I know this is the case with all start-ups, but here the challenge was less physical or financial, more intellectual. I just felt so charged up, being amidst such bright minds and busy brains. You see, Sunil and Niranjan (Niranjan Mayya is another co-founder that we spoke to later) had toyed with the idea of doing 'something' in the Indian education arena since 2004. This was not driven by the mad, flamboyant, get-them-quick rush to the "Education Market" crowded with the big gorillas. The Microsofts, the Oracles and the Intels of the world had their own business priorities and the deep pockets to go after them. The SolidGyan founders wanted to tread a different path, one that led to more power to their customers than to themselves. A unique business philosophy that I identified with - a quest for a business model that survives, nay thrives, despite economic downturns and fiercely competitive environments. A model built on mutual trust, a sense of community and the joy of giving rather than taking.
B&M: Is that all? Just a philanthropic urge got SolidGyan started?
SI: No, I would not say only that! These guys are not just starry-eyed college kids starting out as entrepreneurs, all dreams and no reality. Sunil has to his credit the kind of hard-boiled, battle-hardened experience that management gurus write bestsellers on. He has managed multi-million dollar projects technically before moving on to manage company bottom-lines. He has started an IT services company and still continues to run it. He brings all this rich international experience to the table when we discuss our business plans. Similarly Niranjan, with his vast experience in the software products and services business supported by a M.S. & Ph D from University of Florida, USA, is no novice either. His ideas are creative, yet pragmatic. He analyses issues with a razor-sharp incisiveness, honed over many years of his career in USA and Canada. Add to that, a missionary zeal to pursue our visionary goals, and you can see why I am excited to be at SolidGyan.
B&M: OK, so what did these business-savvy guys see in this overcrowded market, something that made them invest part of their savings into a new venture like SolidGyan?
SI: Yes, that is indeed a good question. Like all good businessmen, they did their initial research and focus groups, even in far away towns in interior Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. They talked to industry stalwarts and got only one 'piece-of-advice' from everyone - don't get into this market! It is too crowded and there is no money to be made in it. But their vast experience, clubbed with their sharp analytical mind, zeroed in on some obvious facts and they did some smart, shall I say MBA like, extrapolation. The constants in the equation were there for everyone to see - a never-ending customer stream; an exponentially growing need for help and support in a highly competitive environment; a phenomenal growth in Internet connectivity and reach; rock bottom hardware, software and connectivity prices; an increasingly computer-savvy attitude in today's students and working professionals; elongated working hours and the emergence of the  DIY (Do-It-Yourself) culture. So these gentlemen concluded that if they can come up with the right variables - the right content, the right delivery engine, the right kind of viral marketing, the right price, etc. they would have the right equation to succeed in a hitherto unexplored niche of the preparatory education market. An investment equation they could back with their hard-earned money!
B&M: Hmm, we get the picture of a solid foundation to this duckling of a company. Any other pieces to the jigsaw puzzle you would like to give our readers a sneak preview of?
SI: I am not sure if it is a jigsaw puzzle, for I see the entire picture clearly, up here in my head. But extending your analogy, Sunil and Niranjan did find another piece in Vinish Kathuria, a friend who had been working in the US for many years. Vinish had moved over to the West after doing his B.Tech. from IIT Delhi, and was pursuing an extremely successful career there, including a four year stint at Microsoft's Worldwide Headquarters at Redmond, WA. One evening, when Sunil and Niranjan were in one of their brainstorming sessions, ideas were getting somewhat jaded and their relentless zeal was appearing to wane. They decided to rope in Vinish over an ISD call. Vinish joined in the brainstorming session and got so enthusiastic about it that he decided to chuck his lucrative career in the USA and shift to India to be a part of this venture! When an IIT grad and Duke School's MBA saw such irresistible value in it, they knew they had hit upon something!
B&M: Thanks, Sheela! That gives us a good insight into the solidity behind SolidGyan.
SI: You are welcome. But if you want some more details about how our management team decided to focus on online CAT training to begin with, you should have a word with Niranjan. Of course, since he is based in Toronto, any such telecom will need to be done either early morning or late evening. Should I fix one up?
We agreed and two days later, were on a telecom with Niranjan. Even on the phone, we could sense the energy and zeal with which he was talking to us. We drove straight to the point about their choice of products.
B&M: We have been told about the intense research and analysis that went on behind the scenes at SolidGyan. We know you have launched your portal with products for the Common Admission Test to the IIMs and other top B Schools. What is the logic behind this choice?
NM: Once we were clear about our vision and mission, we did not exclude any options that were doable in accordance with these. For example, we looked at the K-12 segment (he explained that this is the term used  for all classes from Kindergarten to Class 12). But with only 10% of the schools in the country being privately funded and the commoditization of the tuition market down to a level where tutors are offering a section on, say "Sin ? & Cos ?" at Rs. 40, we knew this was not the market to be in.
Next we looked at the top end of the K-12 spectrum, i.e. the IIT JEE training to be put on the net. Without doubt, a fantastic market size, a highly competitive segment and an attractive revenue model. However, we decided against entering this segment because of the structure of the JEE and its ever changing paradigm. We also concluded that it was not conducive for e-learning.
Then we zeroed in on the MBA - CAT segment. And somehow everything seemed to fall in place. Once again a large market size - renewed every year; a highly coveted career option for most aspiring young graduates; a discerning and demanding clientele comprising bright, ambitious and mature contenders, belonging to the middle to upper-middle class segment with decent spending power; easy access to a PC and Internet at home/office. It was another of those "YES" moments I recall from those early days!
B&M: Great! So what is it that you would like to do via this portal for this target segment?
NM: I think the foremost thing we would like to do through SolidGyan is to create a vibrant community, virtual in its access, but very real in terms of the value add to each member. Sharing knowledge, or gyan, is a tried and tested method to build communities since time immemorial. We are just using modern technology to make the reaching out process accessible, affordable and enjoyable. As the internet has taken hold of the global psyche, people have realized that e-learning is the easiest method of learning - it is selfpaced, self-timed and self-governed. For those with the intrinsic motivation to learn and succeed, it is the best mode. Of course, if you need the stick of a teacher to make you study, then you need to enroll in a real classroom coaching course.
B&M: What can registered users of SolidGyan expect to find inside? What can they gain from it?
NM: A wealth of solid knowledge, information, strategies, tools and techniques to help the serious CAT taker maximize his/her performance. It would not be merely an online version of a distance learning course for CAT preparation. For that, people can buy photocopies of material that coaching institutes are known to produce in bulk! Our users will presumably be smart enough to realize that it is not the material that matters. Their CSF - Critical Success Factor - is the way the material is used. Our users will gain invaluable insights into their preparation process and be able to practice the methods that work best for
Rather than approach the learning from a one-size-fits-all mindset that most coaching institutes perforce inflict on their gullible students, our users will customize their learning and testing methods to suit their own personality, knowledge and attitude. For example, if it is DI on which you want to focus your attention on, you have a product just for that. If all you want to do is supplement your regular classroom coaching with some Mock-tests, you can simply buy the SolidGyan Mock-CAT series when you want it (not when your coaching institute decides to give it to you). Online feedback and comparative analysis  with other online test takers will help our users fine-tune their strategy and techniques on a real-time basis, instead of waiting for the end of a course.
B&M: That certainly seems to be an attractive list of payoffs for your users. Are you also expecting anything from them in return?
NM (with a laugh): Obviously, the down-payment for the products they buy online! More seriously - yes, we do expect a lot from our users, just like a community has expectations from its members. Our users can contribute to the knowledge base with their ideas, short-cuts, experiences, insights, et al. With the 24 by 7 nature of this medium, there is no time or space limit to when and how far the SolidGyan knowledge base can grow. If a new idea to solve a Time, Speed and Distance problem more effectively strikes you at the middle of the night, you can get online and check if others in the community have thought of something better. You can post your idea and see the reactions from people in far reaches of the country. Tell me, how can a regular brick & mortar classroom system match this. So we do expect our users to be an intimate and active part of the community, learning not just from the gyan offered by our panel of experts and coaches, but also from each other!
B&M: We really are impressed by the kind of thought, analysis and planning that has gone into launching this first-of-a-kind portal for online CAT preparation training. We wish you and your users all the very best in the months and years to come. Good luck!
NM: On behalf of the entire SolidGyan team, I thank B&M Chronicle for giving us an opportunity to reach out to its esteemed readers all over India. We are sure they will log on in large numbers to check out our website (www.solidgyan.com) and will have an experience of a lifetime! It was time for us to head back to base. We had seen at close quarters the making of a future brand, one that we feel will be an instant hit with all serious MBA aspirants. Don't believe us? Just get online and check it out for yourself. |
|
|
